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The 2014 Major League Baseball Gold Glove award winners were announced Tuesday night on ESPN2. Given out each year to the players that are judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in both the National League and the American League, the award is voted on by the managers and coaches in each league (managers can not vote for their own players), with sabermetrics now making up around 25 percent of the vote.

Marking the 57th annual Gold Glove Awards, which began back in 1957, there have been some terrific players to receive the honor. However, no other player has won more Gold Gloves in their career or in a row than Greg Maddux, who took home 18 and 13, respectively.

While Maddux’s records seem fairly safe for now, there were some winners for 2014 who could win quite a few Gold Gloves as the years go on. Here’s a recap of the winners, with my thoughts on each:

CATCHER

AL Nominees – Alex Avila, Yan Gomes and Salvador Perez

AL Winner – Salvador Perez (2nd career)

NL Nominees – Jonathan Lucroy, Russell Martin and Yadier Molina

NL Winner – Yadier Molina (7th career)

Picking up his second straight career Gold Glove award, Salvador Perez was by far the best catcher in all of the American League in 2014. On the National League side of things, Yadier Molina takes home his seventh straight Gold Glove award. One of the best at controlling a pitching staff in all of baseball, it’s no surprise that Molina won yet again.

PITCHER

AL Nominees – Mark Buehrle, Felix Hernandez and Dallas Keuchel

AL Winner – Dallas Keuchel (1st career)

NL Nominees – Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright

NL Winner – Zack Greinke (1st career)

Although Mark Buehrle has won his fair share of Gold Glove awards, this season the award went to Dallas Keuchel. Having a great season with the Astros, Keuchel isn’t that well known around baseball, but he’s one of the best defenders on the mound. Zack Greinke, surprisingly, picks up just his first career Gold Glove award for the National League, after years of great performances on the mound.

LEFT FIELDER

AL Nominees – Michael Brantley, Yoenis Cespedes and Alex Gordon

AL Winner – Alex Gordon (4th career)

NL Nominees – Starling Marte, Justin Upton and Christian Yelich

NL Winner – Christian Yelich (1st career)

Alex Gordon ended up taking home his fourth straight Gold Glove award. Always very consistent as a defender in left field, Gordon isn’t at all a shocking winner of the award. Christian Yelich on the other hand did come as somewhat of a surprise. But even so, he’s still deserving, becoming the first Marlins outfielder to ever pick up a Gold Glove.

CENTER FIELDER

AL Nominees – Jackie Bradley Jr., Adam Eaton and Adam Jones

AL Winner – Adam Jones (4th career)

NL Nominees – Billy Hamilton, Juan Lagares and Denard Span

NL Winner – Juan Lagares (1st career)

Adam Jones has established himself as one of the best outfielders in baseball today, and he extended his argument by picking up his fourth career Gold Glove award — his third straight. On the NL half of the Center Field Gold Glove awards, Juan Lagares ended up receiving the award. While he’s not well known as of yet, he could easily pick up several more Gold Gloves in his career.

RIGHT FIELDER

AL Nominees – Kole Calhoun, Kevin Kiermaier and Nick Markakis

AL Winner – Nick Markakis (2nd career)

NL Nominees – Jason Heyward, Gerardo Parra and Giancarlo Stanton

NL Winner – Jason Heyward (2nd career)

Nick Markakis of the American League and Jason Heyward of the National League each picked up their second career Gold Glove awards on Tuesday night for their terrific defense in the outfield. Despite the fact that Heyward and Markakis are two very different types of players, they were undeniably the most deserving right fielders of the 2014 season.

FIRST BASE

AL Nominees – Miguel Cabrera, Eric Hosmer and Albert Pujols

AL Winner – Eric Hosmer (2nd career)

NL Nominees – Adrian Gonzalez, Adam LaRoche and Justin Morneau

NL Winner – Adrian Gonzalez (4th career)

All of the nominees for first base have their ups and downs defensively, but Eric Hosmer winning the Gold Glove this season is the best choice, in my opinion. His second straight Gold Glove, Hosmer showed signs of breaking out into a superstar in 2014. Also picking up his multiple Gold Glove award was Adrian Gonzalez, who hadn’t won one since 2011.

SECOND BASE

AL Nominees – Robinson Cano, Ian Kinsler and Dustin Pedroia

AL Winner – Dustin Pedroia (4th career)

NL Nominees – DJ LeMahieu, Brandon Phillips and Chase Utley

NL Winner – DJ LeMahieu (1st career)

Dustin Pedroia is widely known as one of the best second baseman in baseball, and he was recognized for it this season. Winning his fourth career Gold Glove award and second in a row, Pedroia could easily pick up another Gold Glove or two before the end of his career. As could DJ LeMahieu, who isn’t well known in the baseball world, but received the first of what could be several Gold Glove awards.

SHORTSTOP

AL Nominees –Alcides Escobar, J.J. Hardy and Alexei Ramirez

AL Winner – J.J. Hardy (3rd career)

NL Nominees –Zack Cozart, Adeiny Hechavaria and Andrelton Simmons

NL Winner –Andrelton Simmons (2nd career)

J.J. Hardy receives his third straight Gold Glove award for American League shortstop. Known for his slick defense he shows off seemingly every night, Hardy is quietly one of the best fielding shortstops in baseball today. But many would argue that the best defensive shortstop at the moment has to be Andrelton Simmons, who won his second career Gold Glove on Tuesday and could be winning them for years to come.

THIRD BASE

AL Nominees –Josh Donaldson, Adrian Beltre and Kyle Seager

AL Winner – Kyle Seager (1st career)

NL Nominees –Nolan Arenado, Pablo Sandoval and Juan Uribe

NL Winner –Nolan Arenado (2nd career)

Kyle Seager picked up his first career Gold Glove award while Nolan Arenado received his second in a row. Both are terrific fielding third baseman, and both are early on in their careers. It is very likely that Seager and Arenado could continue to get better and better, picking up multiple Gold Glove awards in the process.

2014 GOLD GLOVE AWARDS FAST FACTS

There were six first-time Gold Glove winners.

The Royals and Orioles had the most Gold Glove winners, with three each.

There were nine Gold Glove winners who also won a Gold Glove in 2013.

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Also announced last night were the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) award finalists for 2014 Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player. For the most part, I agree with the finalists, but there are a few I’m surprised about.

Here are the finalists, with who I have winning (click their names to find out why):

As stated in a previous blog post, I plan on posting a recap of each winner, along with a look at how well I did with my predictions, in a blog entry after each award is officially announced. So be sure to check back for that at some point next week.

The 2014 Major League Baseball Players’ Choice Award winners were announced last night on MLB Network. Unlike the BBWAA awards, these awards, as the name would suggest, are voted on by players from around baseball each September, when they receive a ballot to make their picks for each category. Six categories in all, American League players vote for American League players with National League players voting for National League players, with the exception of the Marvin Miller Man of the Year award and the Player of the Year award, in which players from both leagues vote for a single player.

The winning player for each category is awarded a grant from the MLB Players Trust, ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 dollars, depending on the award that they win. The money goes to the winner’s choice of charity, with some players deciding to split up the money between multiple causes. This marks the 22nd annual Players Choice Awards, which began in 1992. Here’s a recap of the winners, with my thoughts on each:

OUTSTANDING ROOKIE AWARD ($20,000)

AL Nominees – Jose Abreu, Matt Shoemaker and Danny Santana

AL Winner –Jose Abreu

NL Nominees – Billy Hamilton, Jacob deGrom and David Peralta

NL Winner – Jacob deGrom

Although I feel that Dellin Betances should’ve been one of the American League nominees for Outstanding Rookie after the great season he had, I can’t argue at all with the winner. Jose Abreu had an unbelievable inaugural season, hitting 36 homers with the White Sox, and will likely be a big part of their future in the many years to come. On the National League side of the award, it came down to Billy Hamilton and Jacob deGrom for me. But although it was a close call, Hamilton hitting around .250 earns deGrom the award.

OUTSTANDING PITCHER AWARD ($20,000)

AL Nominees – Felix Hernandez, Corey Kluber and Chris Sale

AL Winner –Felix Hernandez

NL Nominees – Johnny Cueto, Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright

NL Winner –Clayton Kershaw

All three American League nominees had incredible seasons worthy of recognition, but Felix Hernandez had the best statistical season of them all. Posting a career high 15 wins and a career low 2.14 ERA, Hernandez was the obvious choice. As was Clayton Kershaw. Taking home the Outstanding Pitcher award for the National League, Kershaw had a historic season with a miniscule 1.77 ERA, and there was no way that he wasn’t going to win this award.

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD ($20,000)

AL Nominees –J.D. Martinez, Victor Martinez and Chris Young

AL Winner –Chris Young

NL Nominees –Tim Hudson, Casey McGehee and Edinson Volquez

NL Winner –Casey McGehee

Obviously the one award that a player least wants to receive, meaning that they bounced back from years of injuries or poor performance. (But the important aspect, I suppose, is that the player did in fact bounce back.) Winning the Comeback Player of the Year award for the American League was Chris Young (the pitcher, not the outfielder) along with Casey McGehee for the National League. Both players had tremendous 2014 campaigns, coming off recent struggles on both their parts.

OUTSTANDING PLAYER AWARD ($20,000)

AL Nominees –Mike Trout, Jose Altuve and Victor Martinez

AL Winner –Mike Trout

NL Nominees –Josh Harrison, Clayton Kershaw and Giancarlo Stanton

NL Winner –Giancarlo Stanton

Seemingly getting better and better each year, with plans to get even better in 2015, Mike Trout was the players’ choice for Outstanding American League player of the year. Scoring over 100 runs for the third straight season, and breaking the 30 homer mark for the first time in his young career, Trout could be taking this award home for many years. For the National League, Giancarlo Stanton received the honor. Despite an injury which cut his season short, players agreed that Stanton, with his incredible display of power, is the rightful winner.

MARVIN MILLER MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD ($50,000)

Nominees –Clayton Kershaw, Adam LaRoche and Anthony Rizzo

Winner –Clayton Kershaw

The Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award is given each year to the player most recognized for outstanding on-field performance and off-field contributions to his community. Past winners include Mark McGwire, Albert Pujols, Chipper Jones and Mariano Rivera, among many others. This year, the award went to Clayton Kershaw, whose ‘Kershaw’s Challenge’ looks “to encourage people to use whatever God-given passion or talent they have to make a difference and give back to people in need”. Combine Kershaw’s community contributions with his 2014 stats, and he definitely is the top choice for the prestigious award.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD ($50,000)

Nominees –Clayton Kershaw, Giancarlo Stanton and Mike Trout

Winner – Clayton Kershaw

Taking home his third award of the night, and bringing the total amount of money donated by the MLB Players Trust to $120,000, Clayton Kershaw takes dominance of award winning to a new level. Going 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA over the course of the season, Kershaw likely is just getting started. With the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) awards being given out next week, it’s almost certain that Kershaw will take home the National League Cy Young award — with many putting him in line to win the NL MVP as well.

Before I begin my recap of my votes for the major MLB awards, I want to take a second to acknowledge both the Royals and the Giants on advancing to the 2014 World Series. Both teams were outstanding in their given league championship series, with the Royals sweeping and the Giants losing just once. And thus, it should make for a very entertaining World Series, which begins in Kansas City on Tuesday. But while I’m going to make some World Series predictions in my next blog post, this post is meant to focus solely on the major MLB awards.

Over the past week, or so, I’ve been typing up individual posts on who I feel most deserves the awards of American League and National League Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player.

Some of the choices were easy, while others took a great deal of debate. But in the end I went with my gut of who I feel deserves each award the most.

In case you missed a few (or all) of my Major League Baseball award posts, I wanted to do a brief recap. Here are my picks that I made for each category:

Feel free to click the links associated with each award to be taken to my post on it, giving the full reasoning behind my picks. I’m planning to post a blog entry covering the winners of each award when they’re announced towards the middle of next month, comparing my original picks to the winners and giving my overall thoughts, so be sure to check back for that.

As I stated in my American League post, choosing the Most Valuable Player from each league is the most difficult decision of all the major baseball awards handed out at the conclusion of each season. With Rookie of the Year and Cy Young you can look solely at which player had the best overall stats, but Most Valuable Player sometimes involves a bit more than just stats. While it’s important that an MVP winner had a great statistical year, the best offensive player doesn’t automatically become the most valuable.

With that said, it was an even more difficult vote for me this season than it has been in seasons past. There are several players, including Adrian Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, Giancarlo Stanton and Clayton Kershaw, who were all extremely valuable members of their given team in the National League. However, in the end, only one player can win the Most Valuable Player award.

Adrian Gonzalez is one of two Dodgers on my list, but he stands the least chance of the two to win the MVP award, and the least overall shot of all the players on my list. Although he led all of Major League Baseball in RBI’s on the season, with 116, while batting .276 and blasting 17 home runs, Gonzalez still doesn’t quite have the overall numbers to win the Most Valuable Player award. Even so, playing in all but three of the Dodgers’ 162 games, Gonzalez definitely had a great season worthy of recognition.

The current reigning N.L. Most Valuable Player, Andrew McCutchen, posted very similar numbers to the ones he posted in 2013. But although they are extremely close in likeness, McCutchen doesn’t deserved the MVP award this year anymore than I felt he deserved it last year when he won. Batting .314 on the season, with 25 homers and 83 RBI’s, McCutchen surely had a great season. But missing a good portion of the year, and getting outperformed by two other players in the National League, McCutchen will likely have to try again in 2015.

Giancarlo Stanton comes in runner up for the National League MVP award, in my mind. It was a difficult decision to not give him the honor, but finishing out the year on the disabled list, along with another player completely dominating everyone else in the N.L., caused him to just miss out. Still, Stanton posted the best numbers of his career thus far in 2014. Blasting 37 home runs and tallying 105 runs batted in, Stanton was by far one of the top valuable players in the National League, but not quite the most valuable.

For me, the correct choice, although it’s a difficult one — especially given the fact that he’s a pitcher — for the 2014 National League Most Valuable Player award is Clayton Kershaw, who I also have picking up the Cy Young award. Coming back from an injury to begin the year, which caused him to miss the first month of the season, and still winding up leading baseball in wins and ERA is simply remarkable. Notching 21 wins, along with a career best 1.77 ERA, which was nearly half a run better than the next closest ERA in the National League, Kershaw should pick up his first career Most Valuable Player award for his amazing performances all season long.

As I stated in my American League Cy Young post, each season there are usually several pitchers from each league that have incredible seasons, making it difficult to choose between them for who most deserves the Cy Young award. This year, however, it really wasn’t all that close. Although Adam Wainwright, Johnny Cueto and Clayton Kershaw all had great seasons, one simply stands above the rest. Even so, I’ll take the time to go over each of them anyway.

Adam Wainwright put together yet another strong season, going 20-9 over the course of 32 starts for the Cardinals. While he didn’t overly dominate the competition, he kept them off balance for the most part throughout the year, holding opposing batters to a mere .222 batting average against. Having posted the lowest ERA of his career thus far, with a 2.38 on the year, you’d figure Wainwright would stand a good shot at the Cy Young. But the talent he’s facing is simply too great for him to do so this time around.

Yet another strong candidate for the Cy Young award that will inevitably miss out is Johnny Cueto. After getting off to an unbelievable start to the season, Cueto began to pitch so well that he earned a few more votes after each and every outing. Even so, despite striking out 242 batters and subsequently putting together a mere 2.25 ERA over 243.2 innings pitched, Cueto will have to try his luck again in 2015. The season he put together will likely wind up as one of the best ever recorded by a runner up for Cy Young.

For me, the only choice for the 2014 National League Cy Young award is Clayton Kershaw. Regardless of the fact that Kershaw missed over a month of playing time after making the start for the Dodgers down in Australia, causing him to record seven fewer starts than his closest competition, Johnny Cueto, Kershaw is in a class of his own.

For the fourth straight season, Kershaw lead all of Major League Baseball in ERA, posting an incredible 1.77 on the season. To go along with that amazing statistic, Kershaw was able to win 21 games, despite missing a month of starts, including one of which was of the no-hitter variety, in which he struck out a staggering fifteen batters. Keeping batters off the base paths, holding them to a .196 batting average for all of 2014, Kershaw is one of the best all-around pitchers the game has ever seen. And thus, after a great season, Kershaw should pick up his third Cy Young award of the past four years.

Start after start after start this season, Felix Hernandez has taken the ball for the Seattle Mariners and given them an unbelievable pitching performance, which has allowed the Mariners to once again become relevant in the American League West division.

While they’re not dominating the division like some predicted they would — they currently sit third, behind the Athletics and Angels –, especially with the offseason acquisition of Robinson Cano, along with a few other key players, the Mariners are still finding a way to keep in the playoff mix, thanks in large to a big season by their ace Hernandez.

With a season win-loss record now of 13-3 to go along with a 1.95 ERA, the five time All-Star and former perfect game pitcher is having a career best season in a number of categories. But one of the most impressive numbers Hernandez has put together this season is his streak of consecutive quality starts, which now stands at 16 straight outings of 7 or more innings pitched in which he allowed 2 or fewer earned runs.

That’s simply amazing.

The Mariners currently sit within one game of the second American League wild card spot, which is also quite remarkable, seeing that they were 12.5 games back of the wild card at this point last season. Robinson Cano’s hitting ability has no doubt helped the Mariners reach this point, with him coming up big in the Mariner’s seven-run sixth inning on Monday night, but there’s no telling where they would be without Felix Hernandez.

With talks that Dodgers’ lefty Clayton Kershaw could wind up taking home the National League Most Valuable Player award with the stats he’s posting, many are asking whether or not Felix Hernandez could do the same for the American League.

Though he’ll likely finish in the top few vote getters, the honor will likely inevitably go to Mike Trout, who has finished runner up in the previous two seasons. Even so, Hernandez, barring any major setbacks, is well out in front to take home his second career Cy Young award.

But no matter which awards Hernandez wins, for the Mariners and their fans, the thing that matters most is a playoff run, which Seattle hasn’t seen since 2001.

They have the talent to do it, and with their only chance coming via a wild card spot (they’re too far down to win the division), the Mariners will have to make it past a one game, lose and go home wild card playoff game to keep the run alive for long. But with Felix Hernandez on their team, the Mariners have to like their chances, should they grasp that second wild card spot.

There’s, arguably, no other pitcher in the game today you would want in that situation.

The biggest honor a Major League Baseball player can receive for their hard work and consistent numbers throughout their career is an induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas and Greg Maddux will all be awarded that honor this coming Sunday (along with Tony La Rusa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre for their managerial careers), as they will be officially inducted after earning the necessary 75 percent of the vote back in January.

With the 2014 MLB Hall of Fame induction ceremony coming up this weekend, I wanted to go over the active major leaguers who are either sure things, likely to make it, or well on their way to a HOF career. Keep in mind, the players listed in each category below are by no means all of the players that fit each category, and some players that I feel are Hall worthy may not be in your mind; while players you think have the numbers didn’t make the cut in my mind. It’s just the top three per category, as far as I’m viewing things.

First Ballot Players

With nearly 3,500 hits, over 250 home runs, around 400 stolen bases and an average above .300 for his career, Derek Jeter is no doubt a future first ballot HOFer. Set to retire after this season, Jeter is one of the all time great players the game of baseball has ever seen, and the career he put together both on the field and off makes him all the more impressive.

Nearly as close of a lock as Jeter is Albert Pujols, who hit his 500th career home run earlier this season. In addition to the homers, Pujols has 2,000 other hits to go along with them, equaling out to a .300 career average to show for it. Going on a record setting start to his career, with twelve straight seasons of 30+ home runs, Pujols should certainly get in his first time around on the ballot.

Though there are people who argue against David Ortiz because he’s a designated hitter, a career of over 450 homers, nearly 1500 RBI’s, and an upper .200’s batting average makes it in my book. Coming through in the clutch in seemingly every situation for the Red Sox throughout his career, Ortiz is going to make it in, even if it’s not the first time.

Likely to Make It

While the stats don’t count, when combined from his numbers in Japan, Ichiro Suzuki has over 4,000 professional hits. As far as the record books show, here in the States, Ichiro has nearly 3,000 hits, a .300’s average and almost 500 career stolen bases. Therefore, despite missing the beginning of his pro career due to time spent in Japan, Ichiro will inevitably wind up with the stats to get in the Hall.

Adrian Beltre continues to put together the type of numbers that gets a player elected to the Hall of Fame. With over 2,500 career hits and almost 400 home runs, to go along with an upper .200’s average, Beltre is one of the best third basemen the game has ever seen. Given the fact that he will likely play a few more seasons, Beltre should only continue to improve his case.

Argued as the best hitter in baseball today, Miguel Cabrera’s stats are unbelievable at this point in his career. At just 31 years old, Cabrera may not get into the Hall if he quit tomorrow, but it would definitely be close. Holding the highest active average of any player, to go along with over 2,000 hits and around 400 home runs, Cabrera will ultimately find himself in Cooperstown when all is said and done.

Off To Great Starts

With the future unknown, I could’ve put dozens of players in this category, but these three are the ones most off to Hall of Fame careers. Having not played for too terribly long, they don’t currently hold the stats to make it in, but if they can each continue their average season for years to come, they’ll definitely finish out their careers with numbers equaling a Hall of Fame career.

Clayton Kershaw is arguably the best pitcher currently in baseball. With two Cy Young awards before the age of 26, Kershaw has posted an ERA under 3.00 each of his first six years in the big leagues; the exception of his career being his inaugural season. Kershaw has also put together over 200 strikeouts each of the past four seasons, and, if he can keep the success going, will likely be on his way to the Hall of Fame.

Seen as the best closer since Mariano Rivera, Craig Kimbrel is as dominant of a relief pitcher as you’ll find. Recording over 40 saves each of the past three years, over which his highest season ERA was a whopping 2.10, Kimbrel is nearly a sure bet in the ninth inning. Holding a career strikeouts per nine innings pitched of over 15, Kimbrel is on his way to sharing in Rivera’s fate — making it to Cooperstown.

Though Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter currently in the Majors, Mike Trout is viewed as the best all around player. A true five tool outfielder, Trout has shown the ability to hit for power — 25+ home runs and 80+ RBI’s each of his first two seasons — as well as the ability to hit for average — over .320 in those two seasons. While the future is unpredictable, at just 22, Trout’s future surely holds an induction into the Hall.

As for the players being inducted into the Hall of Fame this Sunday as part of the 2014 class, you can watch the live induction ceremony at 1:30 on MLB Network.